Three takeaways from Raiders’ 20-12 loss to Packers

The Raiders defense got run over on this John Crockett touchdown. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

The Raiders didn’t excite anybody with their lackluster performance in Thursday’s exhibition loss to the Green Bay Packers.

The offense looked asleep at the wheel, the defense was gashed on the opening drive for the second straight week and the backups couldn’t come to the rescue in a 20-12 loss at Lambeau Field.

This might’ve been the closest thing to a dress rehearsal the Raiders will have this preseason. They host the Tennessee Titans next week in the typically critical third exhibition game. But they also face the Titans a month later in Week 3 of the season, so they may not want to show them much.

The Raiders played their starters for the entire first half Thursday, while Packers sat many of their top line players, most notably quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Green Bay grinded out a 14-play, 74-yard drive to start the game, with Eddie Lacy picking up 45 yards on the ground and scoring the touchdown. The Packers also scored a third-quarter touchdown when John Crockett trucked through a tackle attempt by Cory James.

Oakland managed all of 187 yards of offense and seven first downs in the loss, while picking up 10 more penalties for 96 yards.

Here’s what we learned from the Raiders’ second preseason game:

THREE TAKEAWAYS

Offense off-track: The Raiders had just four first downs and 73 total yards in the first half despite running with the starters the whole way.

Oakland isn’t running its full playbook and is probably holding back some of its better plays. But when you’ve got a talented roster, you want to see that physical ability take over and lead to some plays.

Quarterback Derek Carr has now led seven drives in two preseason games and the Raiders have just six points to show for it. That may not mean much come the regular season, but points are always nice to see.

It’s all vanilla: The game-planning hasn’t started yet, so it’s always prudent to not read too much into these preseason games.

Coach Jack Del Rio wasn’t concerned with any aspects of his team’s defensive scheme when the Packers easily drove down for the opening touchdown. He felt his team just needed to get its pad level down and get off blocks.

“It was really pretty simple,” Del Rio said in a halftime interview on the television broadcast. “They weren’t doing anything. It’s a preseason game. They were running stretches and bootlegs. We settled down and played a little better.”

Mack attack: If there’s anybody on the roster who could’ve watched this one from his couch, it’s Khalil Mack. But he was out there with the starters for the whole first half looking like his dominant self.

Mack put a hit on Packers quarterback Brett Hundley, who started in place of Aaron Rodgers, that took him out of the game. He also delivered a ferocious sack on Joe Callahan and finished with four tackles.